Cardinals Hoping to Not Remember the 21st Night of September after 1-0 Loss to Padres

For the second game in a row, I was kind enough to put together a roll of Padres highlights because that is all that was offered to us from Wednesday night’s Cardinals-Padres game. Blake Snell took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and struck out a career-high 13, as St. Louis was completely inept once again with bats in their hands. But hey, Miles Mikolas looked pretty darn good!

Current streaks for St. Louis:

• 43 innings since scoring their last earned run
• 27 innings since scoring a run, period

According to the broadcast, the major league record for consecutive innings without scoring an earned run is 48, so if the Cardinals can keep this up for just five more innings on Thursday, that record is theirs.

A forgettable 21st night of September, but one that we must sing along to, regardless:

1st Inning

Blake Snell pitched pretty well against the Cardinals back in May, and he backed it up with a much better start on Wednesday evening. The former Cy Young winner set the Cardinals down in order in the first on 10 pitches — Tommy Edman grounded out to Manny Machado, Dylan Carlson flew out to Juan Soto in right, and Paul Goldschmidt struck out.

Miles Mikolas put up a zero of his own, although his was on 13 pitches. Jurickson Profar grounded out to Paul DeJong at short, and then both Soto and Machado struck out swinging.

2nd Inning

St. Louis got their leadoff man on in the second inning courtesy of a Nolan Arenado walk, but Albert Pujols struck out swinging at a 99 mph fastball at the letters, Juan Yepez flew out to center field, and DeJong struck out swinging at a 98 mph fastball at the letters.

Jake Cronenworth lined out to Goldschmidt at first base for the first out in the bottom of the second. Josh Bell followed with a slow ground ball to Edman in shallow right field, but Tommy lost the ball on the transfer from his glove to his hand, allowing Bell to reach. It was Edman’s sixth error of the season. Ha-Seong Kim singled to right field right after, moving Bell to third base and setting Wil Myers up with runners on the corners and one out.

Myers chopped a ground ball to DeJong at shortstop, and he fired home to nail Bell at the plate and keep the game scoreless. The perfect throw led Andrew Knizner’s glove right to the front corner of the plate, and the Padres did not argue.

Austin Nola followed with a line drive single to center field, scoring Kim and giving San Diego a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Jose Azocar grounded out to third base after Nola’s hit, ending the frame.

3rd Inning

Snell struck out Knizner, Corey Dickerson, and Edman — all swinging. That made it four straight punchouts for Snell, and 21 consecutive innings without scoring a run.

Profar flew out to Dickerson for the first out, followed by a clean single to center field by Soto. Mikolas fought back to strike out Machado and Cronenworth to end the inning unscathed.

4th Inning

Carlson put together an eight-pitch at-bat leading off the fourth inning, but struck out on a slider at the ankles — Snell’s fifth consecutive strikeout. After falling behind 0-2, Goldschmidt worked a one-out walk. Arenado struck out on a slider that bounced a foot in front of the plate and Pujols popped out on the infield for the third out.

Bell flew out to left field for the first out, Kim flew out to center field for the second out, and Myers grounded right back to Mikolas for the third out. 10 pitch inning for Mikolas.

5th Inning

Yepez led off the fifth and flew out to center field. DeJong and Knizner both struck out again, and the Cardinals collectively struck out 10 times over the first five innings. Also, not hits!

Nola drew a leadoff, five-pitch walk, but Azocar’s liner led Goldschmidt directly back to the base, where he was able to make the catch and step on the base for an unassisted double play. Profar flew out to Carlson to end the fifth inning.

6th Inning

Dickerson struck out swinging — Snell’s 11th. He went down hacking at a slider that skipped well in front of the plate. Edman grounded out to Myers at first base for the second out. Carlson grounded out to shortstop for the third out.

24 straight innings, no runs. Six innings from Snell, no hits.

Soto led off the sixth inning and was called out on strikes on a borderline inside fastball — Mikolas got the benefit of the doubt. Machado worked a one-out, eight-pitch walk. Cronenworth struck out swinging at a high fastball, and Bell grounded out to second base to end the sixth inning with the Padres still leading, 1-0.

Mikolas’ final line: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (99 pitches)

7th Inning

Goldschmidt led off the seventh inning and grounded out sharply to shortstop. Arenado struck out swinging at a slider in the dirt — Snell’s 12th strikeout of the game. Nolan argued that he actually got a piece of it, but home plate umpire Brennan Miller informed him that he did not, in fact, get a piece of it.

Albert Pujols stepped in and hit a soft single to right field — the second time during the series that he’s beaten the Padres’ exaggerated shift. It was the Cardinals’ first hit, and Snell got a standing ovation from the San Diego crowd. Yepez singled to right field in the same spot Pujols did, advancing the future hall of famer to second base.

*Side note: When Pujols got to second, he gave Juan Soto a look in right field and took a few steps towards third like he was testing his arm, and then laughed and stepped back to second. Soto chuckled and then threw a laser beam to second base, smiling at Albert the whole time*

With two runners on, DeJong struck out for the third time, earning himself a hat trick and becoming Snell’s 13th victim of the evening. The Cardinals broke up the no-hitter, but it’d still been 25 innings since they scored a run.

Snell’s final line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 13 K, (117 pitches)

Jake Woodford took over after six strong innings from Miles Mikolas. Kim grounded out to short for the first out. Myers singled to center field, and Nola popped out to Knizner in foul territory for the second out. Azocar singled up the middle to put two runners on, so Oli Marmol went to the bullpen and called on JoJo Romero, who had not pitched in five days. Romero was able to get the switch-hitting Profar to ground out to shortstop, ending the inning and keeping it a 1-0 ballgame.

8th Inning

Right-hander Robert Suarez entered the game in the eighth after seven dominant innings from “Snellzilla.”

Knizner popped out on the infield, Dickerson grounded out to Cronenworth at second, Edman flew out to the warning track in center field.

Soto drew a walk from Romero leading off the eigth, followed by Machado’s third strikeout of the game. Cronenworth walked as well, moving Soto to second. With one out, Bell hit a ground ball up the middle but slightly to the right of the second base bag. Edman was able to move to his right to field it, step on second, and fire to first for an inning-ending double play.

9th Inning

Former Brewers’ closer Josh Hader, who has a 10.97 ERA with the Padres this season since being acquired at the deadline, entered to shut things down in the ninth inning.

Carlson led off the ninth and hit a sinking line drive to right field, but was robbed by Juan Soto with a face-first diving catch. Goldschmidt flew out to Trent Grisham in center field. Arenado grounded right back to Hader for an easy 1-3 groundout. Ballgame.

FINAL: Padres 1, Cardinals 0

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Up Next

The Cardinals (87-63) will try to avoid being swept in San Diego Thursday afternoon.

Jack Flaherty (0-1, 5.09 ERA) will make his fourth start since being taken off the IL. Since returning, he has a 4.80 ERA to go along with 11 strikeouts and 7 walks over 15 innings. Native San Diegan Joe Musgrove (10-7, 3.16 ERA) will start for the Padres (83-66).

First pitch is set for 3:10 p.m.

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Around the Central

Brewers 6, Mets 0

Reds 5, Red Sox 1

Cubs 4, Marlins 3

Yankees 14, Pirates 2

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Today’s Pickle

MLB Pickle #196 - 4/9